1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to sun visor attachments, and more particularly, to a double body sun visor attachment with extendable panels that is adapted to be secured to a preexisting visor in a vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices for shielding the eyes of automobile drivers and their passengers from the rays of the sun have been known almost from the first days of the automobile. Early shield devices were in the form of visors, simple opaque rectangles that eventually became the types of standard sun visors that are permanently mounted in modern vehicles.
A typical standard sun visor is pivotable about a horizontal rod anchored at one corner of a vehicle ceiling, the rod itself capable of being swung about its anchoring point from a front windshield position to a side window position.
Much of the prior art has been devoted to replacing such a fixedly mounted visor with an improved sun visor configuration for providing increased sun blocking protection. Three examples of replacement type sun visors will illustrate this broad area of the prior art.
The first, U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,023 (Kawada) discloses a single body having vertically and laterally slidable panel members and requiring a preexisting rod for mounting.
Secondly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,982 (Dykstra et al.) teaches a series of nested panels and a separate means for mounting which includes a pair of pivot axles, necessitating not only replacement of the standard visor and of its mounting hardware but also the addition of a second pivot rod.
The third example of replacement visors, U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,434 (Vandagriff) generally discloses a single body with movable vertical and lateral panels and a third panel capable of being swung away from the main body and also rotatable in a clockwise and counterclockwise direction, all requiring installation of its own mounting hardware.
The other broad category of prior sun visor art relates to those improved devices which do not require replacement of the existing visor or mounting fixtures. U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,021 (Vandagriff), for example, teaches a rear mounting section for removably attaching to an existing standard visor and extendable panel section or sections that can be swung away from the rear mounting section. No replacement of either the preexisting visor or its ceiling mount is required.
While the prior art attempts to cover the windshield and side window areas that are not blocked by traditional sun visors, no visor is known which both quickly and easily attaches to a preexisting visor and provides more than one body with multiple extending panels.